The Windsport Catparts Sprint 15 Traveller Series 2011 Report

The Windsport Catparts Traveller Series for 2011 was concluded in superb weather at Grafham with our biggest attendance (37) of the summer. It has been one of our best attended summer series ever with an average attendance of over 27 competitors per event. The series was won by events secretary, Erling Holmberg, who beat the second place man, Jon Finch by a sizable margin. Erling put his triumph down to 2 things. The first was walking the dog 12 miles a day which helped him loose so much weight that he did not qualify for the heavyweight trophy (which he has often won) at the Nationals. The second factor was that he attended all our events – so there you have it. If you want to win you must walk the dog and attend all our events - of course it helps too if you are a useful sailor! Well done to Erling for running such a well attended and enjoyable series and for winning it, too…….

The series kicked off at Marconi were 9 travellers joined 10 locals on a sunny weekend of light breezes. The locals were all conquering with Kevin Kirby winning from David Ball and Jenny Ball. Kevin Kirby also won the long distance event – the ever popular figure of eight course round Northey and Osea Islands.

The second event was the Southern Nationals which was held at Shanklin with 13 locals and 14 visitors. The Saturday was a pleasant sailing day but Sunday was ‘animal’ with huge gusts. Just one race was run on Sunday and only 7 finished. Robin Leather sailing wife, Boos, boat showed that he can still sail a Sprint 15 well by wrapping up the results on Saturday in Sport mode. Runner up was Sean McKenna.

Seasalter was the third event of the series and the forecast of heavy rain and wind possibly put off a few but 18 travellers joined 7 locals for some fun sailing. National Champion, Kevin Dutch, showed his pace by winning from Erling Holmberg.

The Northern Championships were held at Carsington in September and 21 traveller joined 7 locals for some keen competition in the Derbyshire hills. The water as a bit low and the windward leeward course on the Sunday combined with some tricky gusts caught some of the punters unaware but Stuart Snell showed that he still has the touch by beating local hot shot Robin Newbold into second place.

The Inland Championships were held on a warm and sunny weekend in October at Grafham. The south wind held up all weekend and 37 entries (including 27 travellers) enjoyed some tight racing in perfect conditions. Mark Aldridge narrowly beat Stuart Snell on count-back and Steve Sawford had to settle for third place.

So Erling Holmberg won the Traveller series and the standard mode trophy from Jon Finch while George Stephen won the Sport mode trophy from Robert England.

We now look forward to the ever popular winter series of one day races which kicks off on 5 November at Stewartby.


Final Results Summary:


Overall TT Series Top 5 Places: 1st Erling Holmberg (Shanklin Sailing Club) 14 Pts , 2nd Jon Finch (Stewartby Water Sports Club) 28 Pts, 3rd Robert England (RYA) 31 Pts, 4th Robert Finch (Stewartby Water Sports Club) 33 Pts, 5th George Stephen (Queen Mary Sailing Club) 34 Pts

Una and Two-Up Fleet Top 3 Places: 1st Erling Holmberg (Shanklin Sailing Club) 12 Pts, 2nd Jon Finch (Stewartby Water Sports Club) 25 Pts, 3rd Robert Finch (Stewartby Water Sports Club) 30 Pts

Sport Fleet Top 3 Places: 1st George Stephen (Queen Mary Sailing Club) 5 Pts, 2nd Robert England (RYA) 6 Pts, 3rd George Love (Carsington Sailing Club) 23 Pts

Southern Champion: Robin Leather (Gurnard Sailing Club)

Northern Champion: Stuart Snell (Grafham Water Sailing Club)

Inland Champion: Mark Aldridge (Grafham Water Sailing Club)

Full Series Results are available here



Event Summaries:



Total Number of Individual Competitors who attended at least one event: 88

Event Attendance Summaries
TT EventNumber of Home CompetitorsNumber of TravellersNo. of Una or Two Up CompetitorsNo. of Sport Mode CompetitorsTotal Number of Competitors at Event
Marconi Sailing Club10918119
Shanklin Sailing Club121525227
Seasalter Sailing Club61823124
Carsington Sailing Club62222628
Grafham Water Sailing Club102733437



No. of Competitors From Each Club
Who Took Part In At Least 1 Event
ClubNumber of Competitors
Beaver Sailing Club6
Blithfield Sailing Club2
Brightlingsea Sailing Club1
Carsington Sailing Club6
Christchurch Sailing Club1
Dee Sailing Club2
Draycote Water Sailing Club3
East Down Yacht Club1
Emsworth Sailing Club1
Grafham Water Sailing Club12
Gurnard Sailing Club1
Halifax Sailing Club1
Hollowell Sailing Club1
Marconi Sailing Club10
Netley Sailing Club1
Oxford Sailing Club2
Queen Mary Sailing Club3
Rutland Water Sailing Club1
RYA1
Seasalter Sailing Club6
Shanklin Sailing Club12
Snettisham Beach SC1
Stewartby Water Sports Club4
Thorpe Bay Yacht Club7
Whitstable Yacht Club1
Worthing Sailing Club1
Erling Holmberg - Winner Summer Series 2011